Durbin expects Lisa Madigan to decide on governor's race soon

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin said today that he expects Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to decide soon whether to wage a primary challenge in 2014 to Gov. Pat Quinn — and he predicted that if Madigan runs, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley will sit out the race.

Durbin said Quinn and the legislature are dealing with an “awful” pension problem and, with respect to solving it, “all the choices are bad.”

He added: “And there’s a feeling that the governor needs to show leadership and produce results in order to merit renomination and re-election.”

Durbin, addressing reporters, said he himself had not formally announced a 2014 run for a fourth Senate term. He repeated what he’s said before, that he’s “making all the plans and preparations to run for re-election,” and added, “My ultimate ambition is to be a senator from Illinois.”

Durbin, 68, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, also observed that President Barack Obama understands that 2013 is “his year of maximum effectiveness in the second term.” That has the president trying to deal at once with economic growth, the debt and deficit, the senator said.

On fixing Social Security, Durbin said he favors creation of a commission to act under a tight frame and propose ways to ensure solvency of the program for 75 years.

He said members of Congress should be able to offer amendments to its proposal only if their proposed changes meet the 75-year criterion.